If we could pass on what we have learned in this life right now to someone younger than us, what would it be? My wife and I are getting ready to have our first child in about 10 weeks. The time is flying by and I know I need to be an example of our heavenly Father. I would tell her about all the pitfalls in life as well as the only way I could get past them is because of Christ. I would just pass who Jesus is and how important it is to follow after him.

In this chapter David gives instruction to Israel and to Solomon on their new tasks. He leaves them with encouraging words as well as warnings. We need to pray that we keep these truths to our heart as well.

To Israel (1-8)

David gathered all the officials of Jerusalem together. We need to look at this has one of his final acts as king. He wants to leave Israel with the point of everything he is doing. We just spent six chapters on the preparation of the temple. We know that God commanded David all these things (19). As David had the leaders together he gives them the task that was at hand, he was given the plans of the temple but not able to build it because of the blood that has been on his hand but that Solomon who was the anointed king would build the temple.

David spoke this so that the officials knew who was going to be king. He wanted these leaders to hold Solomon accountable as king. He tells them, “If Solomon continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today, then his kingdom will be established forever.” All the officials heard it and knew what was required, obedience to God.

To Solomon (9-21)

As David spoke to the whole council he then spoke directly to Solomon. I am sure he spoke not as a king to the next king but to a son he dearly loved. He spoke from his past failures as well as his devotion to God. David spoke as one with experience and knew he needed the Lord through everything. He told Solomon to serve God with a whole heart and with a willing mind (9). He also told him to be strong, courageous, and to do it (20). David also gave the warning to Solomon in verse 9 that if he did not serve God with a whole heart and swerved from his commands then he will cast him off forever.

The truth is we know what happens to Solomon, he had over 700 wives and 300 concubines. We know that he fell away from who God was and started to worship other gods. He allowed Israel to practice idolatry. We know that due to his failures the kingdom was split and then after that they both were taken captive by different nations.

A warning to us is given too. Many people try to say, “How close can I get to sin without actually sinning?” We need to have the attitude, “How far away from sin can I go?” When we push the line we start to compromise but when we become obedient to God we start to hate sin, just like he hates sin. Be strong and courageous and do it. You will not regret a life serving after God but you will regret a life of serving sin. Romans 10:11 tells us that we will not be disappointed for calling on the name of the Lord and that is so true. If anything we regret not doing it sooner, may we learn from this and serve the the Lord whole heartedly.

I remember when I was in high school and I wanted a job at like age 15 my parents would say your main job is being a student and a son, you do not need to work right now. My dad would always say when you start working you will never stop. How true it was that my dad would say that because once I got a job, I always had a job. But I was a teenager in need of money because I wanted a car and a license. 

In this chapter we see the organization of the priests and what their duties were.

Their Job

If we look at the establishment of the Levites as priests and those who serve in the tabernacle we would need to look at Numbers 3 and 4. David was reestablishing their duties because the tabernacle would not need to be carried back and forth anymore and that there was going to be a big building  (the temple) for them. 

He takes a census of all the Levites based by their families. We read the line of Aaron the brother of Moses was the highest of the line and his family was to be the ones in charge of it all. The priests job were to be in the service for the Lord. This meant taking care of the certain furnishings in the temple, the sacrifices being offered and the showbread and grain offerings being handled. 

If we could some up our job as Christians it is to know God and make him known to the world. Jesus gave his specific instructions to the disciples before he ascended to heaven. He said in Acts 1:8! But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. When read the book of Acts we see this verse being lived throughout the pages. We read about church history and we see this being lived out. Our job is to know God- which we see God being spoken through the BIble and we speak about God by sharing the Bible to others. We share who Jesus is and what he has done. There is salvation in no one else but Jesus. We need to be faithful to our job so we can be a light to this world. If you knew this was the only thing to do in life, how would you do? Would you take it with not much thought and energy? Would you want to strive at it as best as possible?If you viewed life and this Gospel message as life and death were on the line, would you not make the most of every opportunity?

I would stay up long hours building some masterpiece with my legos. My piece would be some form of fort or castle that would be indestructible. It would have massive walls, small windows, and every known sort of gun or defensive weapon you could imagine. Man, I would put so much time and thought and imagination into my lego designs. I then would show them off to my mom and dad and parade it around the house like I just created a masterpiece and everyone should be so proud. 

In this chapter we see the insight that David had about building the Temple for the Lord. We know that he was not able to build it but he was able to design it. David is passing on the plans as well as getting things ready so Solomon can build God’s Temple.

David’s thoughts

In verses 1-5 we see that David had plans for the Temple of the Lord. The thought he put into was nothing short of deep, thorough, and passion about God. In verse 5, David did all this preparation for the temple because Solomon would be king and as being a young man he would be inexperienced. David wanted the house of the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent. I like those words because it describes what the Temple needed to look like. David loved God and thought about God so much as we read through the Psalms. David put deep thought and also strived to make everything great for God.

We put all our energy and thought and power into things we like right? I know when I play sports I want to be the best I can and give all my thought and energy to that sport. Even when I was younger, when I built those fortresses out of Legos I put time and energy into that. What about when it comes to our relationship with God? How much time and energy do you put into it? As David wrote in Psalms 139:23 to search us and to know our thoughts, God cares about us. He cares about what we are thinking about.

Endless Possibilities

In verses 6-19 David is having a conversation with his son. He is telling Solomon that he must make sure and build the temple because he can not. In verse 8 we see David can not because of all the bloodshed and war that he was over but Solomon will have peace from his enemies and he will be able to build the house of the Lord. 

David gives encouragement about leading the nation and to be strong and not be dismayed but he also laid out all the gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and timber that would be used in the building of the temple. He also has given him names of excellent stone cutters as well as men who can work with gold, silver, and bronze. He says, “Arise and work!” It is something that needs to be done now get going. 

I have met some people that give great ideas but when it comes to actually doing them they fall short. Great ideas are good but it is not until that ideas is actually in place that it becomes good. Here God gave the plans to David, David supplied all the materials, all Solomon has to do is administer the project. What a great position to be in, the organization is done, now it is time to stick to the plans and get it done.

What kind of ideas to you have about ministry? Has God spoken to you about an idea for reaching the lost, sharing to a friend, or maybe getting something done at school to share Christ? Well, arise and to the work! The best way to start is by praying, then by praying, be active, do not just sit and let it pass by. There are endless possibilities when it comes to serving the Lord. God wants someone that is willing and is devoted to Him. Solomon needed to be willing for this huge task and devoted to the project and we see it did get accomplished and it was amazing. Be diligent!

We read in this chapter David is successful in battle and is even successful when the enemy surrounds both sides of him. Sometimes the enemy tries to intimidate us by himself and if that does not work he brings other forces involved to try to win over us. We see that David first had a treaty with the Ammonites but the king became sick and died. The son who became king over the Ammonites did not trust David. In doing so we see the Ammonites going to war with Israel. 

The Ammonites were no match for Israel so they decided to pay the Syrians to help defeat Israel. When Joab saw that they were surrounded he split the army up and said, “Be strong and let us use our strength for our people and for our cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” The result was the Syrians run for the hills because they are losing and the Ammonites run too. 

We see again that the Syrians try to fight against but lose and from that point in the life of David, the Syrians do not try and attack Israel again. 

Fighting the Enemy Part 2

In Ephesians 6:10-20 we read about putting on the whole armor of God. We need to know how important it is to be ready for the enemies attacks. In verse 12 we see that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We know that is battle is a cosmic battle. David faced real life enemies which the devil brought to oppose Israel and God. We may not be facing enemies like David did or maybe we are but we need to realize that there is a spiritual battle constantly going on. We can not lose hope and strength in the Lord. As Joab said, “Be strong.” We too must be strong in our Christian walks. It is easy to get distracted and fall into a trap that the devil has laid out for you. Keep watch over your steps. Make sure that you are prepared everyday.

Have you ever faced an area in your life that was a struggle to overcome. Maybe it is some temptation that Satan keeps attacking you with. We all face them, but it is who we go to for help that matters. Some of us may even face the same temptations. Maybe they are at different degrees of intensity but either way we are in this cosmic battle of sin and righteousness, we just need to remember righteousness won already because of Jesus Christ.

In this chapter David defeats the enemies of Israel and every defeat he praises and dedicates the spoils to God. 

The Enemies are Defeated

We see the Chronicler writes down all the enemies of God that David defeats. He defeated the Philistines, he defeated the Moabites, and other kings. Every group that David defeated he always gave thanks to God. We see that he received gold, silver, and bronze and even other kings gave David tribute for his conquests. 

We can learn from David’s attitude with his enemies. He knew that he was commanded to face them. He knew that God would be the one who will be with him. When they did overcome their enemies he praised God. David’s priorities were right and this serves as a reminder to us that our priorities need to be right and when they are we will overcome our enemies. The enemies that I am talking about are sin and temptation. They are their constantly in our lives. When we put God first we can know what temptation is but if we do not, then temptation will win. 1st Corinthians 10:13 we know that God will provide a way out. In Hebrews 4:15 we see that Jesus understands our weakness with temptation as he himself was tempted but he never gave in to temptation. When we do not give in to temptation we need to make sure and praise God and not become prideful and say, “Look what I did.” God is the answer and the one who gives us strength. What enemies need to be defeated in your life? Have you put God in the front of the battle or are you letting it sit and hide? 

David was a Good King

We read in verse 14, it says, “So David reigned over all of Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people.” We see that he was fair and was equal to all of the people of Israel. I can’t imagine being in his sandals, but I do know that his heart was one after God’s so he desired to reign for God. When God is in the heart of the man who leads, God will be glorified. When God is glorified the world is witness to God who is glorified.

When you seek after the Lord he will always show you what to do. When we start going outside of the will of God that is when things start getting a little crazy. When we start doing what we think is best when trials and temptation come our way we can start getting ourselves in more trouble than before.

In this chapter the Philistines hear that David is now king and their goal is to destroy him and Israel. 

Ask of the Lord

David heard that the Philistines were wanting to seek after him. There was this war between the Philistines and the Israelites that started before he was king. Remember David killed Goliath, the giant Philistine, before he was king. Do you remember how Saul handled these situations. He started to act for himself. Instead of waiting to seek the Lord with Samuel, as he was told too, he offered himself (1st Samuel 13). We see towards the end of his life he even asked for guidance from witches (1st Samuel 28).

What a contrast from the life of Saul, David went to the Lord before he made any decisions. In verse 10, he asked the Lord if he should go up against them. God said, “yes.” They won and David burned their idols. A second time we see the Philistines coming against David and again David asked the Lord if they should go up against the Philistines. God answers, “No.” He told David to go around and wait for the right time as he will go before them in battle. David listened and waited and one.

It is so true for us that we need to inquire of the Lord before all that we do. God will always answer us. He may say yes, no, or wait. David trusted the Lord and acted as the Lord directed. We need to learn that when we face the enemy to always seek the Lord and wait for God’s instruction and not our own. When do you seek after God and his instruction? Is it only when tough times come? What about the little decisions? What about the big decisions? What about life issues? What about school? Seek God in all of your life and you will see His glory.

When we Seek the Lord He will Be Glorified

In verse 17 we see that the fame of David spread and the Lord was known among the nations. When you seek the Lord and praise Him the credit of success should be given to God as well. He is the one directing you and he should be the one that is praised. When you overcome sin, who do you praise? When a trial comes and you overcome it, who do you praise? David gave God the glory when it was good or bad, he knew God was in charge all the time.

Are you surrounded by good friends? Maybe you are one of those good friends that are always there someone. When you are around a good support team you find yourself encouraged as well as confident. I attribute a lot to how I turned out to not only my family but I had good friends in high school, especially Tim and Dirk. These guys were normal guys who loved the Lord and by how they lived, they were encouraging to me. 

In this chapter we see David being uplifted as he was surrounded by mighty men who loved him and served him.

Six Years is a Long Time

David was anointed king but did not become king until Saul died. It was six years that there was an unrust in Israel as Saul was being king but David was the true king. Six years that David would run from Saul and hide in the wilderness. He would even be part of the Philistine army for a little while. In this chapter we read about how David was supported by so many faithful men. They came from the different tribes of Israel and were there to serve the king.

In verse 38 we see that all of Israel were of a single mind. They had one thing and that was unity for once. We read that Saul killed himself in chapter 10 and David was being honored as king now. We see that the fighting between Israel has stopped and the men are together in unity. 

As Christians we can have this problem of fighting and cause little divisions over the littlest things. I know there are certain things that I will not back down on, like salvation is through Jesus Christ and only him. Jesus was born of a virgin, Jesus died and rose again on the 3rd day. I am not going to compromise on the essentials, but certain things we can argue over and have been argued over for centuries. Peter told the church to have unity in mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind (1st Peter 3:8). Paul told the Corinth church that there should be no division in the body, but that the members have the same care for one another (1st Corinthians 12:25). 

For the Church to shine bright, we need Christ to be illuminated from her. When we cause division we shine our sinful self. May we be like the men who came to be of one mind with their leader and we can have one mind with Christ. Amen!

We see that David was anointed as king over Israel. God gave David a description the job, “He was to be a shepherd over the people.” This would be fitting for David as he already had training as a shepherd and he knew the details of watching over sheep. This is what God requires of a leader, to be over his sheep. A leader over sheep is responsible to feed the sheep and watch over them. 

The main move of David as king was making a place or city of his own. As of now Hebron was somewhat a capital for Israel but David saw Jerusalem and that it was already fortified by the Jebusites and knew that Jerusalem would be a good stronghold for Israel. 

David’s Mighty Men

From verses 11 to the end of the chapter we see that there is a description of David’s mighty men. If you want you can read 2nd Samuel 23 and compare. We see that there were 3 men who stood above the 30 mighty men. The man who is at the top of the list is Jashobeam who killed 300 men with his spear at one time. That is a pretty amazing task. From there we see Eleazar did not flee in defending a bean field for his king. Instead he stayed and fought. In 2nd Samuel 23, we see that his he fought so long and so hard that his hand was fastened to his sword.

We see that Benaiah killed a giant, warriors of Moab, and a lion in a pit on a snowy day. If we compare him to the task of David we see that Benaiah did things like David. He was around his leader and it paid off as he acted like his leader. The rest of the names we do not know what they exactly did but we know that their names are recorded in Bible forever. They were faithful warriors for the king.

Fighting a Lion on a Snowy Day

As we read about Benaiah, we read about how he killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. It is easy to read over this and say cool. We need to understand that it was not easy to kill a lion. Especially a lion in their pit or nesting area. If it was a female lion protecting cubs, watch out! If you killed a lion during this time, you were considered a great warrior already because the lion is a mighty animal that could rip you to shreds. Not only was it a lion in a pit or nesting area, it was after snow had fallen. Have you ever tried to run in snow? It is not the easiest thing to do. In fact you get really tired, fast. He was able to kill a lion on a snowy day. We do not know why. We do not know if this lion was a threat to anyone. We just know that he did. I think he did it to show how faithful he is to the king. He was in a way showing off that he would do anything to protect or fight for the king. 

We have been placed under the King. Now, God will not ask us to kill a lion, but what about making a stand? What about sharing the Good News? We should be bold for the King, Jesus Christ. At his name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:10). Even more so being bold, we need to be able to fight against the schemes of the devil, who crouches around like a devouring lion (1st Peter 5:8). Stand even when the ground seems shaky,even though God is the solid ground in which we stand. Fight even though, the devil seems overpowering. God is bigger and in control over the devil. Do not give into the sin that entangles you. You can overcome the temptation that the devil throws at you (1st Corinthians 10:13). Keep fighting, the devil does not give and we can not afford too, but realize that Jesus fought for us and continues to fight for us.

We are still looking at names, names, and more names. What is interesting about this chapter is that we see six of the sons of Jacob and their descendants mentioned. The different between this chapter and chapter 4 is that there is less detail in the descendants. These tribes are of the northern part of the kingdom.

Issachar

In verses 1-5 read about the sons of Issachar and how they began to be mighty men. These were men who would be ready to serve the kingdom as well as the king in service. 

Benjamin (6-12)

We see that the sons of Benjamin were mighty as well. Two significant characters come from the line of Benjamin; Saul, the first king of Israel and Saul who would know God’s grace and later was called Paul. Also in Judges 3, Ehud, who was judge over Israel was a left-handed man. I just like that because I am left handed. In Judges 20 we see that a lot of Benjaminites were left-handed and were really good at using a sling as a weapon. 

Naphtali and Manasseh (13-18)

We see that not a lot was written about the tribe of Naptali and that might be due to some limited sources the chronicler did not have. We do know that one significant person is from this tribe and that is Barak, the general who accompanied Deborah into battle (Judges 5). 

Manasseh was mentioned already in 1st Chronicles 5 but is mentioned here as well because half stayed on the border of Israel and half entered in. 

Ephraim (20-29)

We see that Joshua is mentioned in this section of the Ephraimites. Joshua was a great leader and faithful man unto God. We also know that Samuel, the last judge and the first prophet of Israel came from the tribe of Ephraim. 

Asher (30-40)

The last tribe mentioned in this chapter is Asher, which is a cool name. This tribe also consisted of mighty men. It is somewhat sad that the north had many mighty men but fell before the southern kingdom. Issachar, Ashur, Benjamin, they all had mighty men but the Assyrians defeated them. The other sad thing is out of all of the kings of the north, Israel, none of them did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. All of them did what was evil and worshiped the false idols. If we read Luke 2:36-38 we see a woman named Anna. She is mentioned from the tribe of Asher as one who longed for the Messiah and recognized Jesus as the Messiah. 

No matter what we do in this life, whether it is mighty, significant, or special, if we do not know Christ what does it matter. You may be remembered by people and written in history books but if you do not know Christ then your name stays here. You may not be remembered on earth but if your name is found in the book of life then you will be remembered in heaven for eternity (Revelation 3:5).

I have been asked by different people how far could they do something without getting in trouble or when it becomes sin. Before I start going off on some explanation, I remind myself I asked the same question when I was younger. I would try to think I could go so far but just as long as I did not cross the line I was ok. Me and God were on good terms. I realized that thinking is wrong because my goal is to try to get close to sin thinking I could win. We need to have a different way of thinking about getting close to crossing the line of sin.

From chapter 4 to now we have been looking at the different tribes of Israel’s lineage. Chapter 4 we followed Judah and Simeon and in chapter 5 we will follow Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Reuben mentioned 3rd

Reuben was Jacob’s first born son. As a first born son he was entitled to be first as well as receive the majority of the inheritance. In Genesis 35:22 we read that Reuben gave up his firstborn rights as he did something disgraceful. Judah was mentioned first because as well as vs 2 we see Judah rose above the tribes. Judah would be of the line for the chief ruler David and the Son of David, Jesus Christ. 

Men of War

In verse 18 we see that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Mannasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, and expert in war. These men were men of war but we see that in the middle of battle they would realize they were in need of God’s strength and they would cry out to God in battle and they would prevail over their enemies. Each tribe had a purpose for the community of Israel and these men would be men of war but even the men of war were weak without the strength of the almighty God. 

Aren’t you Glad you are Not Gad…

Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were the tribes that stayed on the edge of the promise land. They liked it better than actually going all the way in. It is true that they kept their word and helped the Israelites in battle so they could obtain the land but they stayed on the edge and did not live within the land. As we read in 2nd Kings these tribes were the first to be carried off by the Assyrian army. We also read that in verse 25, “But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and went after the gods of the peoples of the land.” They were the first tribes that gave in to idolatry.

How Far is too far?

In the beginning I remember asking myself this question and we can look at these 3 tribes (or 2 1/2) as an example. They did not want to go completely into the Promise Land. They wanted to be part of the community but also part into the other lands. We as Christians can do the same thing. We want to be part of the Christian community but we also have our other foot in the world. We try to balance it out but somehow the world will win over. The other nations influence over these tribes is sad and they were the first to be taken away from the enemy. The question we need to ask ourselves is not how close can I get to the line without crossing it, but how far away from sin can I be. We should want to be at the center with our relationship with Christ.

David says it best in Psalm 1- “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Where do you stand? Are you close to the center of where God wants you? Or, are you on the edge and have your foot in both worlds?